Raffle Goat

[rougheye]

I’ve never drawn an OIL tag so when I found out I won the raffle I was in disbelief. Of all the tags to get in Wa I never thought I would get a raffle tag. After the initial shock I started making phone calls. I got some great info from some friends and made some new friends along the way . You all know who you are and I’m thankful for all your help

I started scouting in mid August mostly to learn some areas and get my eyes on as many goats as possible. When you get this tag you want to hunt every unit but with an Idaho elk hunt already planned in September I had to pick a unit or 2 and stick with it.
 One of my goals for this hunt was to try to get one with my bow .
I decided on focusing all my time in the blazed ridge unit . It was close to my house and I new I would need to put a lot of time in to kill a mature Billy with my bow . I also wanted to wait until they haired up nicely.  September got real smoky so not much scouting happened. I did kill a nice bull in Idaho so we were off to a good start

Sorry , this is going to be one of those long drawn out stories with lots of pics

[rougheye]

October was going to be the month . First week I went to an area I had been seeing some goats and found this guy. I knew he was a young billy but excited to see the hair

[ctwiggs1]

Tagging along!

[Rainier10]

I'm in.

[rougheye]

Another 1/2 hour hike and I saw another one !  I new this was a great goat right away. Way bigger body and long horns . I didn’t have my bow yet as I was still in scouting mode.

[rougheye]

I quickly snapped a few pics and sent them to the goat gurus. I immediately got the dreaded text back. “Keep looking”. And so the hunt continued. To young. This was so much fun !

[rougheye]

2 days later I found myself checking a new area that someone told me to check out . Not finding any goats in that area I decided to hike back into the drainage where I saw the 2 young billies with a friend. As we got to the top I could already see the 2 billies from the last trip .we watched them for about an hour and then decided to go higher . As we sat in 50 mile an hour wind and sideways rain we noticed another billy moving down the creek bottom. Now this was a monster we decided. Pictures turned out crummy because of the weather but I new if I could get an arrow in that one I would be a happy camper . Still no bow in my hand but This one I was going to go after i decided

[rougheye]

I had to work the next couple days and actually changed my mind . I knew I would be stoked with that goat but I didn’t want it to end . It was just starting to get good and I had plenty of time . Quick disclaimer: I’m not really hung up on score or shooting the biggest goat ever   Goal is to shoot a mature billy with my bow . I decided to give it 1 week to find a bigger one and weather was moving in

[trophyhunt]

Man I get it, but that last goat looks really nice.  I'd have to try to kill that, especially with a bow, what a hunt that would be. 

[rougheye]

I found myself on a grueling hike checking out another mountain . It was pissing rain and headed back to the truck with no goat sightings. I was almost back to the truck and decided to break out the spotter one more time . For some reason I glassed this low Mountain about 2 miles away and I see a white spot . I thought there is no way there is a goat down there but I’ll drive down and try to check it out . I drove as close as I could and as I drove up the drainage I looked up and saw a giant white rock. Bummer but I kept driving up . The road took me to the top of the ridge. When I got to the top I immediately saw 2 big bodied goats going over the top . I was already spent from the hike earlier but I had to see these goats. This was going to hurt.
An hour and half later I crested the top . The 2 billies where feeding on a steep hillside. I snuck in to about 120 yards only armed with my phone and spotter. Again thankful I wasn’t carrying my bow. These weren’t the goats for me

[rougheye]

More

[rougheye]

As I was coming down the peak after watching them for hours I was able to glass the same small mountain down low . I focused in on the spot where I saw the white patch and this is what I saw

[rougheye]

I knew I had to get closer but I had a feeling this was my goat . He was by himself. Body looks huge and he was in a great spot for a bow. Unfortunately it got dark before I could get a closer look     
Next day I had to work

[rougheye]

3 days later I was up early on an opposite hillside about 1200 yards away. That morning it was foggy and I couldn’t see the hillside. About 11am a buddy came up to help me glass. The fog lifted and we saw him right away in the exact same spot. We watched him till dark trying to get good photos. He never left but we saw enough to know he was the one. Short horns but heavy and huge body

[rougheye]

The next day was snowy and stormy so we decided to go kill him the following day . When we got to our spotting point in the morning the hillside was completely white with fresh snow. We glassed till about 11am with zero results. I decided to go up anyway hoping to cut his tracks or see him. As soon as I got to the top I found a fresh set of tracks. I followed him all over the mountain and he started going down lower and lower. I finally got to the point where I knew there was 1 last cliff area. As I snuck in I could hear him digging a hole to lay in. As I came around a giant rock I could see from his shoulder back. He didn’t know I was there. I ranged him at 14.4 yards   

I drew back.   Then let down. What if it was a different one ?  What if it’s a nanny ?  I slowly cleared the rock to see his head. Crap it’s him. He sees me now. We have a stand off for a while. I try to draw back again. He takes off. I didn’t want to push him so I went down the mountain feeling like I just blew my chance. When I got to the bottom the boys got some more pics